holding a 60 per cent stake in the business.  “We know that pet food and care is a high priority for many of our customers. To help address the health and wellbeing needs of their pets, we have invested jointly in a new online start-up called PetCulture, which is now in its early stage of testing with customers,” a Woolworths Group spokesperson told Inside Retail.  PetCulture will be run separately to Woolworths as a digital start-up and will focus on offering “a large range of premium pet food products and health advice” not currently available through Woolworths. Petsure CEO Alex Thomas had already noticed the increasingly important role pets play in Australian families before the pandemic.  “We saw, even pre-Covid, our pets increasingly being treated as members of the family and playing a more important role in the lives of pet parents,” he said. “Via our pet health insurance, telehealth, and fintech experience, we formed the view that innovation was needed in pet health and wellness, so it made sense to partner with Woolworths to offer pet parents products and services directly informed by our pet health care expertise.” Simon Smith, former managing director of rideshare platform Ola Australia and also of eBay Australia, was recently appointed CEO at PetCuture, bringing experience in analytics, e-commerce as well as services and communities. Smith takes over from the role from founder Iain McDonald who has been developing the business over the last six months.  Woolworths supermarkets and Big W have reported strong growth in the pet category over the past 12 months, giving the retail group confidence in this digital platform which will offer pet owners a more personalised experience. The site is still in the early stages of beta testing, which Woolworths said will allow the team to learn more about customers and tailor the offer to their needs.  Driving growth online E-commerce offerings in the pet category have prospered during Covid-19 as consumers lean into online services more than ever.  Fuzzyard, an Australian premium petcare brand that’s sold in more than 10,000 stores globally, has witnessed strong growth in its online business.  “The sales growth has been incredible in the last year and we only hope to continue to grow that,” Anne Nguyen, marketing and e-commerce manager at Fuzzyard, told Inside Retail.  “The pet industry is really being driven by the millennial demographic at the moment, and I think it comes down to lifestyle; millennials are taking their time with growing their families and their treating pets as family members essentially.” Fuzzyard’s Australian HQ is based in Melbourne, Victoria but it also has a warehouse in California where it ships all North American orders. While the business is predominantly wholesale, Fuzzyard is eager to grow the online business and connect more directly with consumers.  “We’ve got a pretty big following on socials, but we really want to be able to connect with our end consumers more and really engage with our audience there. That’s something we’re looking at growing,” Nguyen said. “Our online channels really exemplify our brand identity and our personality and that’s something that you probably miss if you walked into like a pet store, you don’t really see a lot of the branding behind the product.” Fuzzyard is also planning to launch online exclusives and seasonal products that can’t be found at local pet stores.